Morristown Fiber Fairy brings out your tales of being #NiceOnIce

MORRISTOWN — We'll admit, the story of the Morristown Fiber Fairy hits a little close to home for us.

Really, really close. One of the statues you'll see in the gallery connected to this post is right outside the NJ.com main office in Morristown, on a corner of the Green. It was hard for us not to notice when scarves and hats started appearing on downtown statues, accompanied by notes letting people know the cold-weather gear there was theirs to take, if they were in need.

It's that act of kindness that prompted us to ask you, our NJ.com readers, to tell us tales of kindness in the cold, and share them on social media with the hashtag #NiceOnIce. We wanted to know what's warming your heart as the winter chill lingers.

Here's some of what we heard:

"My 16 year old son, through very generous donations from our church, Christ Church, brought 65 packages of socks, 50 hats, 45 pairs of gloves, 25 scarves and 14 winter coats, all new, to St. Paul's homeless shelter in Paterson on Christmas Eve to help make the men's Christmas a little brighter and and a whole lot warmer." — Nancy Buono-Dalzell via Facebook

"I have been doing Project Comfort for years, I have a bin on my porch to collect socks, underwear and sleeping bags. My church then goes to Philly and gives them out to the homeless while ministering to them and feeding them our pastor's famous Philly Chili." — Amy Friant Mumink via Facebook

"They did this in downtown Spartanburg too." — Valerie Walling (writing about the hats and scarves) via Facebook

"I've been running a coat drive for 10 years. This year hooked up with @JerseyCares http://www.jerseycares.org/JC_Coat_Drive" — Heidi Heleniak on Twitter.

"There are 3 houses on my block of Main Street. Every time it snows, my neighbor does the sidewalk on the entire block with his snowblower, plus my driveway apron. And he scolds me when I give him a 12-pack to say thank you. #NiceOnIce" — Matt Kausch

We also heard from dozens of people who were inspired by or wanted to congratulate the anonymous "Fiber Fairy" in Morristown.

"So heartwarming to hear about such wonderful acts of kindness," Sonja Johnsson Dolisi wrote on our Facebook page. "More effort should be given to making acts of kindness like this made known. We hear too much about all the negative There is kindness in all of us so SHARE it!"

The Morristown-based Emily's Hats for Hope has been approached by several people who think the initiative — founded by then-17-year-old Emily Kubin in 2011 — is behind the statue-dressing. But Emily's isn't confirming or denying anything — though it has been spreading the word and asking people to pass on kindness via its own Facebook page.

In the meantime, the Morristown Fiber Fairy seems to have popped up on Twitter, spreading word of the effort and encouraging others to demonstrate some kindness in the cold.

"Take the #NiceOnIce pledge & do something kind for someone in need this winter," the Fiber Fairy" wrote after we started promoting the use of the #NiceOnIce hashtag. "Life is Good. Pass it on."

She (if it is indeed a she) even shared a #NiceOnIce tale via the new account: "My sis is #PayingItForward. Placing #NiceOnIce notes on random cars. #RandomActsOfKindness #Yarnia #makeadifference."